Middle East - Anthony Ham [197]
Upon entering the complex gates, the first thing you notice is the Amna Suraka building itself. Its red facade has been kept exactly as it appeared after the 1991 uprising, pockmarked from bullet holes, shattered windows and blackened from fires. The courtyard contains a weapons display of Iraqi tanks, artillery, mortars and other instruments of death. The first stop indoors is the Hall of Mirrors, a 50m-long narrow hallway lined by 182,000 shards of mirrored glass, one for every victim of Saddam’s Anfal campaign (Click here). The ceiling twinkles with 5000 lights, one for every Kurdish village destroyed under Saddam. The next room features a replica of a traditional Kurdish village home.
Passing through exterior corridors covered by barbed wire, you enter the main building that contains several prison cells and torture chambers. Many rooms contain life-like sculptures of Kurdish prisoners, created by local artist Kamaran Omer. In one particularly gruesome exhibit, a Kurdish man is hanging by his wrists from a metal hook with electrical wires attached to his earlobes while a recording of an interrogation plays. The basement of the museum is a graphic photo gallery showing the aftermath of Saddam’s chemical attack on Halabja.
Museum guides, many whom speak English, conduct free tours of the complex. Visitors should come prepared for an experience likely to be disturbing and difficult to forget.
SLEMANI MUSEUM
The Slemani ( 312 0609; Salim St; admission free; 8.30am-2.30pm, closed Fri), or Sulaymaniyah Museum, is a timeline of Mesopotamian history dating back to the Palaeolithic Age from 15,000 BC. The museum is divided into several galleries featuring an array of archaeological artefacts. Some of the more interesting finds include a ceramic coffin containing the skeleton of a 6000-year-old woman found near Dohuk, and a Greek statue of Hercules dating to 334 BC. There is also a fine display of Islamic ceramic arts from the Islamic Golden Age. Most of the exhibits have Kurdish and English signs.
PARKS OF SULAYMANIYAH
Sulaymaniyah is a green city blessed with many beautiful public parks.
Azadi Park (Parki Azadi; 0770 149 6061, 329 0690; admission free; amusement park ID1000, rides ID500-1000; 8am-midnight) is Sulaymaniyah’s answer to Central Park and Coney Island all rolled into one. It’s a huge place filled with gardens, playgrounds, restaurants, cafés and a small lake. It’s a popular place for jogging, picnicking and people-watching. The best day to come is Friday night, when the park is packed with families and young people. The northwest corner of the park is a separate, fenced-in amusement park with a Ferris wheel, kiddie rides and plenty of junk-food vendors.
Municipal Park (Salim St at Sulaymaniyah Circle) is a small park popular with the lunchtime crowd from nearby Sulaymaniyah University.
Northwest of the city, just outside the ring road, is Sarchnar Park (admission ID1000; 8am- midnight), a large family park with outdoor garden restaurants, a small amusement park with the obligatory Ferris wheel, and a sad little zoo containing such ‘exotic’ caged animals as dogs, pigeons, squirrels and goats.
Further afield, Azmar Mountain, about 6km northeast and above the city, is a stunning picnic spot with million-dinar views.
THE GRAND BAZAAR
Sulaymaniyah’s bazaar (along Malawi St, 8am-6pm) may be the largest traditional market in Iraqi Kurdistan. You can find anything here including and up to the proverbial kitchen sink. This place is HUGE, stretching nearly 1.5km along Malawi and Goran Sts from the Sulaymaniyah Palace Hotel to Ibrahim Pasha St. The bazaar is an intermingled mix of tiny shops, traditional market stalls and street vendors.
The real heart of the market is the covered bazaar between Malawi